Bowling-alley.



W. J. BARNETT.

BOWLING ALLEY.

APPLICATIGN FILED NOV. 19. I918.

1,29%1. Patented Feb. 25, 1919.

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WILLIAM JOHN BARNETT, 0F BROOKLYN, NEW YORK.

BOWLING-ALLEY.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 25, 1919.

Application filed November 19, 1918. Serial No. 263,187.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, WILLIAM JOHN BAR- NETT, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of the city of New York, borou h of Brooklyn, in the county of Kings and g ltate of New York, have invented a new and Improved Bowling-Alley,'ofwhich the following-is a full, clear, and exact description.

' This invention relates to the construction of bowling alleys, and has particular reference to means for affordin convenience and safety to the pin boy.

Among the objects, therefore, of the invention is to so construct a bowling alley, having two runways, that one boy may, easily set both sets of pins.

Another object of the invention is to provide a safety guard to shield the boy fromthe balls or flying pins without requiring him to jump or climb from the pit.,

With the foregoing and other objects in view the invention consists in the arrangement and combination of parts hereinafter described and claimed, and while the invention is not restricted to the exact details-of construction disclosed or suggested herein, still for the purpose of illustrating a practical embodiment thereof reference is had to the accompanying drawings, in which like reference characters designate the same parts in the several views, and in which- Figure 1 is a planview of the rear end of a bowling alley embodying my improvement.

Fig. 2 is a vertical sectional view on the line 22 of Fig. 1; and

Fig. 3 is a rear elevation of the guard appliance as will be seen from the line 33 of Fig. 2.

Referring now more particularly to the drawings, I show a bowling alley comprising two runways 10 with a vertical wall or partition 11 between them and having outside Walls 12 and 13 between which and at the rear of the runways is arranged a pit 14 extending from one side wall 12 to the other 13. In other words the partition 11 is substantially coextensive with the runways and so does not sub-divide the pit into sections as heretofore. A return ball trough 15 may be arranged at any desired place into which the boy will place the balls as usual.

By providing the cutaway for the partition 11 it is obvious that a boy in the pit may operate freely and easily for resetting the pins on either runway, making the service much easier for him than if he were required to jump or climb over such partition.

16, 16 indicate two movably supported guards or wings arranged just at the rear end of the partition 11 and extending laterally therefrom so as to extend along the inner portions of the runways. The means I indicate to support these wings is a hinge construction comprising a. vertical hinge rod 17 fastened at the top and bottom at 18 and 19 in alinement with the wall or partition 11. The wings are provided with hinge members 20 having knuckles journaled upon the rod 17, they being supported as by means of a vertically adjustable collar 21 fixed to the rod 17. As thus far described the wings are free to swing rearward in the direction of the rolling balls or flying pins.

These wings serve primarily as a protection or guard back of which the boy will stand or crouch temporarily when a play is being made at either runway. I provide some means, however, cooperating with the wings to hold them in substantially the same vertical transverse plane as shown in the drawings, but permitting them to swing on their hinges with comparative freedom. To this end I employ a coil spring 22 surrounding the rod 17 and having its opposite ends 22 bearing against the rear faces of the respective wings. It follows, therefore, that either .Wing may swing on its hinges independently of the other wing or both may swing at the same time in the direction of the arrows marked on Fig. 1, though obviously the movement of both simultaneously will be more strongly resisted than the movement of either alone, from the nature of the spring. These wings obviously may be padded or cushioned, if desired, to deaden the noise or impact, but as to this feature of the construction I am not specifically concerned.

When the wings are swung on their hinges by impact of the balls or pins against the front faces thereof they are subject to the recoil of the spring 22 and so in order to prevent shock or slam back to normal position, I provide a suitable cushioning device in the nature of a flat spring 23 secured between the wings and the rear end of the partition 11 and having its ends projecting laterally in both directions from the partition so that the ends of the springs 23 are in position to receive the respective wings 16.

The wings do not extend laterally far enough to seriously interfere with the resetting of the pins, and yet they are wide enough to afford ampl guard or protection to the boy. In practice the guards 16 may stand normally at any desired angle with respect to the ends of the runways, depending upon the relative strengths of the two springs 22 and 23.

I claim':

1. In a bowling alley, the combination of two parallel runways, a partition wall between them, there being provided a pit at the ends of the runways common to both with free passage from one end' of the pit to the other, and means secured to the rear end of the partition wall to protect from flying pins a boy stationed in the pit to setup pins for both runways.

2. The herein described bowling alley comprising two parallel runways, side walls on the opposite sides of the runways, a central partition between the runways of substantially the same length asthe runways, there being provided a pit at the ends of the runways andpartition with free passage-way from one side wall to the other, and means located at the end of the partition to guard from flying pins a boy located in the.pit in position to serve both runways.

3. In a bowling alley, the combination of a runway, a partition [wall extending along the runway and of about the same length as the runway, there being provided a pit at the end of the runway and providing a free passageway laterally from the runway past the end of the partition wall, and a member adjacent to the end of the partition ,wall and extending partially across the end of the runway serving to protect the pin boy from flying pins.

I. In a bowling alley, the combination of a pair of runways, a partition between them substantially coextensive in length with the runways, a pit being formed at the ends of the runways and partition providing free communication from one runway to the other for the accommodation of a pin boy adapted to serve both runways, and means carried by the end of the partition and extending partially across both runways serving to guard the boy from flying pins.

The combination with a pair of run,- ways and a partition between them, there being provided free passageway from the end of one runway to the other past the end of the partition, of a pair of guard members pivotally connected to the end of the partition and extending partially across the ends of the runways serving to guard from flying pins a boy stationed in the pit in position to serve both runways.

7 WILLIAM JOHN BARNETT.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Gommissioner of Patents, Washington, D. G. 

